Ever Immortal
by elfmaiden4legs
Summary: Re-Upload. After Rocco's attack on her, Sally lies alone and bleeding in the school car park... but is she ever truly alone when she has Flynn watching over her? WARNING! Character death!


**Ever Immortal**

Sally shivered, wondering since when it had become so cold?

Tears of fear soaked her increasingly pale cheeks, as shock mercifully numbed most of the pain stemming from Rocco's blade's point of entry. Her lips and skin began to turn blue.

She could feel the warm flow of blood gradually pooling beneath her as she struggled not to allow panic to take hold – confused thoughts of what had just happened swam around inside her head as she kept one clammy hand pressed tightly against the open wound in her lower abdomen, in a futile attempt to try and stem the blood.

He had stabbed her – she hadn't ever considered him capable of such an act – even after everything people had said about him, about the terrible things which she herself had known he had already done. She had been willing to believe that Rocco had only done what the gang had expected of him, but he had carried out the deed despite the trust she had placed in him, and he had left her for dead. Sally felt like such a fool, and her tears kept on falling.

The cold concrete beneath her cheek brought only false comfort as her eyelids began to close and her vision swam – it was something physical for her to cling onto, the only thing which now sat between her and the darkness which beckoned – a darkness which she knew brought only death.

She questioned whether this was what it had felt like for Flynn when he'd died, and she wondered where he was now.

Delirium was setting in – it must have been she thought, as she heard the sound of footsteps approaching her. Sally froze, frightened, as instinct instructed her to stay still and play dead - to bide her time whilst she considered her options. Her mind was slow to function, and it was like wading through treacle trying to focus on anything for more than a few seconds at a time.

Had Rocco returned, she wondered, and if so had he come back to help her or to finish the job? Had she been discovered, and would she soon find herself waking up in a nice warm bed, in the safety of the hospital and amongst concerned family and friends?

"Sal?"

The voice was a familiar one, it's tone warm and comforting, and Sally frowned. Cautiously she turned her head towards it and was surprised to discover that the motion did not hurt. Blood loss and pain had not encumbered her ability to move freely.

She looked up into the eyes of the man now standing before her, and she gasped disbelievingly.

"Flynn…" She whispered.

"It's me." He nodded, and smiled.

Sally looked around her, but the breezy high school parking lot remained silent – her body deserted.

"I've… I've missed you." She faltered.

"I know." He sighed, his eyes meeting hers affectionately as he stooped down beside her and carefully replaced the hold which she still had over the profusely bleeding wound with his own hand. "I've missed you to."

"But what does this mean?" She asked him. She still had tears in her eyes as he embraced her. The delicate creases of her soft brow furrowed as at last she let her eyelids fall fully closed against the world, feeling safe in Flynn's arms. She began to relax and find comfort in the arms of the only man she had ever truly loved, and the only man who had ever made her feel that love in return.

Flynn smiled knowingly, seeming to read her mind as she looked up searchingly into his eyes.

"Yes…" He finally responded softly, allowing for the time required to let her shock disperse and the reality of her situation to sink in.

After Flynn's death neither of them had expected to be seeing each other again for a very long time, and now their untimely reunion could only mean one thing. She was dying.

"He did love you… but you have to let go now Sal." He explained. With this he gently removed his hand from the gaping wound in her abdomen to reveal new flesh already beginning to form over the deep slit in her pale skin – the blood finally ceasing to flow. "Its over." He whispered.

Sally's heart leapt and a cold shiver ran down her spine as she suddenly realised what she was having to say goodbye to. She had waited so long for this day, and now that it had come, all be it somewhat earlier than either of them could have anticipated, she wanted nothing more than to stay here – wherever here was – with Flynn. But either way Sally realised that she could not win… she had Flynn back, but in order to stay with him she would have to say goodbye to her children.

"Don't feel guilty, I know what you're thinking." Flynn sighed comfortingly, drawing Sally closer to him, and turning her face towards him as he spoke. "You can't go back. The wound Rocco inflicted was fatal. Your body's been too badly damaged."

"Why did he do it Flynn?" Sally sobbed. "I trusted him."

"I know you did Sal." Flynn soothed, as he cuddled her close to him. "And if it's any consolation I don't think he wanted to. Rocco's one very mixed up kid. He's head's a mess. He just didn't feel that he had another choice."

"But what about Pippa?" She asked. "What about Cassie and Ric?"

"We'll always make sure that they're taken care of." Flynn reassured her.

"But I can't leave them." She sobbed.

"You never will. No matter what happens they'll never forget you, you'll always be part of their lives and they'll always be a part of you. The one's we love never truly leave us. I may have been gone from your lives, but I assure you that I've always been there. This is not the end Sal."

Suddenly there was a sound of frantic feet on concrete and as she turned it was to see Bard running towards her. Her heart broke for him. He'd already lost one love, and now he was losing another.

"SALLY!" He called to her. "SALLY!"

But she knew that any hope of a response was beyond her now – she couldn't let him know that everything was going to be alright. She couldn't offer him reassurance.

"It's time." Flynn explained, taking his young wife's hand tenderly in his own as he wrapped his arms warmly around her shoulders, and for the first time in what Sally now realised had been since Flynn's death she finally felt at peace.

"Is it always this hard?" She asked him.

Flynn shrugged his shoulders in response to her question. "I don't know." He answered her thoughtfully. "I suppose each person is different. It was hard for me though." He sighed, looking down at her. "Very hard."

Sally nodded.

"I'm sorry Bad." She whispered, bending down to peck him silently on the cheek as his body – still wracked with sobs – appeared to convulse as he struggled to rid himself of the bitter tears which were welling up inside of him faster than he could cry them out, and he continued to cling onto Sally's motionless body.

"Please don't do this Sal… come back… please don't leave me." He begged her, but Sally knew that she could not, and she could offer him no comfort as she got to her feet.

As she did so another figure appeared alongside her. Sally turned to see who it was and as she did so a young woman stooped down beside Brad and wrapped her slender arms around his shivering shoulders. This appeared to quell his grief a little and his sobs subsided somewhat, even though Sally knew that he could not possibly have felt the young woman's presence. With this she turned to look up at Sally and as she did so she smiled.

Sally recognised her immediately.

"I'll take care of him." Emily reassured her, and Sally nodded – her hand knotting into Flynn's as together they walked until she could feel her pain no more, and for a moment Sally fought the urge to look back.

She didn't feel she needed to, there was no point. Brad would be alright, and so would Pippa, and Cassie, and Ric given time – despite the hole they had left in her heart which Sally realised she would never be able to fill. It was a space which would always be reserved for her three beautiful children, until such a time when they too would be reunited, in what would hopefully be very many productive and happiness filled years from now.

She did look back one last time however, and when she did she saw Brad still cradling her lifeless form – Emily's arms wrapped around his sobbing and grief stricken figure.

Flynn was right, he had loved her, but he had never been completely hers, just as she had never been entirely his. His heart belonged to Emily, as hers belonged to Flynn. They had merely been keeping each other warm until such a time when they would be reunited with true love once again.

Of course her mother would make sure that Pippa, and Cassie and Ric were alright. It would be tough on them all for a long time yet, but she knew deep in her heart that she didn't have to worry, they were all going to be alright, and as Sally departed with Flynn that night she finally felt at peace.

**HOME&amp;AWAY**

A week later Brad stood at the front of the small church, starring down at the coffin of the woman he loved. His eyes were puffy and bloodshot from the tears which he hadn't been able to help but shed every day since he'd found her lying there in the school car park. He'd blamed himself, wondering if he'd found her earlier whether it would have made any difference, even though Rachel had assured him that it would not.

His sister approached him cautiously – observing his empty expression – and wrapped her warm and comforting arms around her brother. It broke her heart as she felt the miserable upheavals of his chest against her breast as he sobbed into her shoulder. Her own salty tears mingling with his as she gripped him to her and held his body against hers.

She too had cried too many tears to count over the past few days as she'd mourned the loss of her friend.

The funeral was only meant to have been a private affair – a small gathering of some of her closest family and friends, and their chance to say goodbye. Naturally however the whole town had turned out, such was Sally's legacy.

Each had spoken their own moving tribute, if not before the pulpit in the presence of the entire town then in the privacy of their own homes. The farewell had been a simple one – heartfelt and genuine as had been her relatively short life – and so much so that as the gathering finally came to an end nobody had anything left to say.

'_Do not stand at my grave and cry, I am not there, I did not die.'_ – Brad found this statement almost too hard to believe as he stood over Sally's grave over an hour after the service – little Pippa cradled tightly within his strong arms. Cassie had read the same heartfelt poem at Flynn's funeral just over a year ago, and it had seemed only fitting to give them both the same touching send off – but how could he not do anything other than cry for her he wondered?

He looked down Sally's small gravestone. There was no body there. She had been cremated and her ashes were to be scattered at sea just as she had done with Flynn's before her, but the stone had been erected in both of their memories.

_**Sally and Flynn, **_it read.

_**Together forever in heaven,**_

_**Devoted parents to Pippa, Cassie, and Ric,**_

_**And missed by family and friends.**_

Death, which had once separated Sally and Flynn, had now reunited them and Brad realised that their romance had only ever meant to have been a fleeting one. He hadn't told anyone but he would have been prepared to swear that he'd felt Emily's presence in the car park that night.

Eventually, he realised, time would heal the wounds inflicted on him by Sally's death and he would feel strong enough one day to move on with his life again. It would be just too painful for him to remain in Summer Bay forever now, he realised – it being the place where he had lost the two most precious women in his life, with the exception of Rachel, his sister. He couldn't contemplate leaving now however, for he knew that he was still needed, and was likely to be for quite some time yet. As hard as it was he forced himself to put his own feelings aside and to focus as best he could on Sally's three grieving children.

That at least, for the moment, had to be enough for him to live for.

**END!**


End file.
